OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 244, 18 December 1995
GERMANY PLEDGES SUPPORT TO ESTONIA. German Ambassador Berndt Mutzelburg
told Estonian President Lennart Meri on 15 December that Germany will
support Estonia's rapid integration into the European Union, ETA and BNS
reported. He said an article in the previous day's Financial Times
asserting that Germany wanted only the Czech Republic, Poland, and
Hungary to be included in the first round of EU expansion was
inaccurate. Mutzelburg noted that the German government has already
given its approval to the associate membership agreements for the Baltic
States and that the parliament is expected to ratify them soon. --
Saulius Girnius
SLOVAK PRIME MINISTER ON TREATY WITH HUNGARY. Vladimir Meciar, speaking
on Slovak Radio on 15 December, asserted that the Slovak-Hungarian
treaty will be ratified during the current parliamentary session. "If I
did not believe in the position of the government coalition, I would
strive for support from the opposition, but I am not doing that," Meciar
stressed. Participants in a Slovak TV debate two days later agreed that
the main problem with the treaty is the possibility of multiple
interpretations, particularly with regard to collective versus
individual rights and territorial autonomy. Pravda on 18 December
reported that most parties will make their final opinions on the treaty
known only during parliamentary discussions on 20 December. -- Sharon
Fisher
SLOVAK POLITICAL UPDATE. Slovak National Party deputy Vitazoslav Moric
has said that "dictates from Brussels" are beginning to be worse than
those from Moscow. Moric made this remark during the 15 December
parliamentary debate on enlarging Slovakia's permanent delegation to the
Council of Europe to include the ethnic Hungarian deputy Edit Bauer.
Moric said Bauer was an unacceptable choice because she considers
Slovakia "not a homeland but a shelter for the homeless," Sme reported.
The same day, the cabinet forwarded a request by Meciar asking the
Constitutional Court to clarify the president's powers vis-a-vis the
government. The government is seeking confirmation that the president is
not empowered to assign tasks to members of the government or to
stipulate a deadline for a task to be carried out. -- Sharon Fisher
HUNGARIAN TECHNICAL UNIT TO BOSNIA CUT BY 20%. Defense Minister Gyorgy
Keleti told MTI that the Hungarian technical team bound for Bosnia will
have only 400 members, 100 fewer than the figure endorsed by the
parliament, Hungarian newspapers reported on 18 December. He said the
contingent was cut due to financial considerations and in order to
reduce risk factors. But several newspapers reported last week that
there were only 160 soldiers in Hungary who have been trained in
peacekeeping operations and can speak English. The technical team is
expected to move to the Balkan region in the second half of January and
will be replaced by another unit after six months. Meanwhile, U.S.
President Bill Clinton has thanked Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn
for Hungary's contribution to bringing about peace in the Balkans, a
spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry told MTI on 15 December. --
Zsofia Szilagyi
SERBIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE ACCUSES BELGRADE OF OPPRESSING MINORITIES.
The Serbian Helsinki Committee, in its annual report released on 15
December, concludes that minorities in Serbia are subject to repression,
discrimination, and "ethnic cleansing," according to AFP on 18 December.
The report charges Serbian authorities with maltreatment, torture, and
hostage-taking. It also accuse them of staging political trials in
Kosovo, while noting that residents are also subject to pressure from
the Kosovar shadow state. With regard to Vojvodina, the report concludes
that the ethnic Hungarian community may eventually disappear due to
discrimination. Some 30,000 young Hungarians have fled the country to
avoid the military draft, while dozens of families have been turned out
of their homes to make room for Croatian Serb refugees. Of the 250,000
Croats living in Vojvodina, 45,000 have been expelled since 1991. The
report adds that Croatian Serb refugees have not been treated in
accordance with international conventions. -- Fabian Schmidt
ROMANIA, HUNGARY TO RECONCILE IN SPRING? Romanian President Ion Iliescu
and Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn, attending the EU summit in
Madrid on 16 December, said the two sides want to finalize negotiations
on Iliescu's proposal for a historic reconciliation with Hungary by
March 1996, Romanian media reported. Romanian Ambassador to Budapest
Ioan Donca said Hungary's official response to the proposal, which was
supposed to be given on 15 December, has yet to be discussed with the
six parliamentary parties. Its response is thus likely to be delayed
until after Christmas, he said. -- Matyas Szabo
[As of 12:00 CET]
Compiled by Jan Cleave